Castagnaccio

This chestnut flour cake – pronounced 'cus-tunn-yarch-oh' – is an old favourite from Tuscany, in the north of Italy where chestnuts are bountiful. Omit the honey to make this cake plant-based.

Castagnaccio Credit: Kitti Gould

• serves

  12

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  35 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

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Ingredients

• 30 g raisins
• 200 g sweet wine or water (see Note)
• 250 g chestnut flour
• 350 ml water
• 60 g extra virgin olive oil
• ½ tsp table salt
• 20 g honey (optional)
• 1 sprig rosemary, roughly chopped
• 30 g pine nuts
• 30 g walnuts, roughly broken
• 50 g dark chocolate, chopped, optional

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan-forced. Grease a 22 cm round cake tin.
2. Soak the raisins in the wine (or water) in a medium bowl for 10 minutes.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the chestnut flour, water, olive oil, salt and honey (if using). Mix until smooth. Ensure chestnut flour is all mixed in and if not, scrape down and mix again.
4. Pour cake batter into the prepared tin. Scatter with rosemary, nuts, drained raisins and chocolate.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until surface is dry and cracked.

Note

• We used vin santo. Use a springform cake tin to make the cake easier to remove.

Photography by Kitti Gould.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

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